Girl's Abduction Ignites Bloodshed In Philippines

OTHER NEWS TO NOTE - The World

August 29, 1999

ZAMBOANGA, Philippines - Government soldiers clashed repeatedly with Muslim rebels after the rebels allegedly abducted a 4-year-old girl, and at least 16 people have died in the fighting, the military said Saturday. The dead included two soldiers and the rest were rebels, the military said. Troops tried Saturday to overrun a camp of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front in the southern Philippines province of Basilan, 550 miles south of Manila. Meanwhile, helicopter gunships and army artillery pounded an area of the province's hinterlands. The military operation was launched Wednesday after negotiations for the release of the girl broke down.